Thursday April 8, 2010
Allow refugees to work, Govt urged
KUALA LUMPUR: The Bar Council has urged the Government to let refugees work so that they can be self-sustaining communities.
A clear-cut policy addressing the well-being of refugees must be established by the authorities to better manage refugees, said Bar Council Subcommittee on Migrants, Refugees and Immigration Affairs chairman Datuk M. Ramachelvam.
By doing so, refugees would be able to earn a living, and the Government would be able to eradicate many socio-economic problems.
In its recommendation to the Government, the Bar Council suggested that the authorities adopt a foreign worker replacement policy where instead of allowing labour brokers to source for fresh migrant workers, priority should be given to refugees physically present in the country until they could return home or be resettled in a third country.
“If we have proper guidelines, we will save costs because if refugees are integrated into the formal economy and if they are within the taxable bracket, they too will need to pay tax,” he said in a press conference after a briefing on the new urban refugee policy by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees here yesterday.
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